Bones FF: 525600 moments by Akarana

[akarana]

Chapter 20: Confessions of jailbirds

"Nice to see you again, Cam," Perry greeted when he and Michelle arrived at the baseball field.

"Good to see you, Perry. It's been a while," Cam smiled at him and briefly hugged Michelle to greet her as well.

"Hodgins playing?" Michelle wanted to know and sat down next to Cam on the bench in the bleachers.

"No, he's just getting us something to drink. Arastoo is playing though," she replied.

"The Arab intern?"

"Iranian, yes," Cam nodded.

"I think I met him once, but I'm not sure," Michelle shrugged.

"You want something to drink, too?" Perry asked her.

"Sure," she shrugged. "Soda please," she smiled then and her boyfriend pecked her on the lips before he left for the drink stand.

"That was weird," Cam smiled awkwardly when Perry had left, referring to the kiss.

"Now you know how I feel," Michelle countered.

"Oh no, totally other weirdness," Cam shook her head. "I know how I felt when I saw my parents kiss- nothing compared to seeing your kid kiss someone."

"I'll tell you if I agree or not, once I'm in the same situation," her daughter told her.

"Fifty years from now," Cam mumbled and Michelle laughed.

"What's fifty years from now?" Hodgins asked when he came back that moment with a bottle of ice tea and a can of Coke in his hands.

"You'll be old and grey," the teen teased him.

"Statistically I'll even be dead," he shrugged unimpressed and stood in front of Michelle. "Now scoot," he told her.

"No, I wanna sit close to Cam," she shook her head and playfully hugged Cam's arm.

"You have Perry to snuggle with, Cam is mine," Hodgins disagreed and tried to get in between the two women.

"Why don't you just sit down here," Cam asked him and scooted a bit closer to Michelle, so Hodgins could squish in between herself and the banister.

"Fine," he huffed and sat down with a pout. He placed the drinks on the floor and then suddenly grabbed Cam by the waist and pulled her into his lap before she knew what was happening. "Ha!" he announced his victory to the world and hugged her tight, then placed a kiss on her cheek.

"Is this even legal here?" she asked him, turning her head to the side so she could see him.

"I don't care," he said without a care in the world and hugged her closer to him.

"You will care when the policeman come and arrest us," she grinned.

"Nah, I'd buy us out," he disagreed, buried his face in her neck and breathed her in.

"Hodgins, I have to get up," Cam told him, feeling a bit uncomfortable because she felt the eyes of the others on her.

"No, you stay," he said and refused to loosen his arms around her.

"And you two wonder why I don't want to go out with you anymore," Michelle rolled her eyes.

"You have your boyfriend here as well," Hodgins pointed out.

"Just think about what you'd do if we acted like this?" she asked Cam and waved one finger in the general direction of them. Cam only scrunched up her face, slid sideways off Hodgins lap and sat down on the bench again.

"We're gonna make up for it later," she told Hodgins quietly, but not quiet enough.

"One day, one day I'll take revenge for each and every comment like that, that I had to listen to," Michelle deadpanned.

"You wanna walk home again?" Cam asked her and raised one eyebrow. It was enough to shut her up.

"Here," Perry said and handed Michelle her drink, then sat down next to her.

"Thanks," she replied and moved closer to him.

"There he is," Hodgins exclaimed when he saw Arastoo walking onto the field with his team. "Woohoo, go Arastoo!" he yelled and Arastoo replied by laughing and shaking his head at Hodgins' crazy antics. "Sorry," Hodgins added quietly when he saw Cam's look that said more than a thousand words.

"And now we're gonna go and celebrate your victory," Hodgins said enthusiastically and patted Arastoo on the back. "You're in?" he turned to Michelle and Perry. The teens looked at each other.

"Sure," they both finally agreed.

"So, where are we going?" Arastoo asked and Hodgins rubbed his hands together.

"Wherever you go, you have to drop me off at home first, because I need to change and get ready for my girls night out," Cam interrupted their plans.

"That's tonight?" Hodgins asked disappointed.

"I told you about it," Cam pointed out.

"I know, I just didn't realize it was this weekend," he replied. "That sucks," he added.

"You can celebrate with Arastoo, Michelle and Perry. I trust you not to give them any booze," she said.

"Oh please, either Perry or I am going to end up driving. Remember when you introduced him to your family the first time?" Michelle couldn't help pointing out.

"I don't drink alcohol," Arastoo told her immediately.

"I'm not gonna get wasted alone," Hodgins huffed. "How about we have a BBQ at home?" he suggested.

"Your home or my home?" Cam wanted to know warily.

"Our home, babe, our home," he corrected her with a smile.

"Not yet. And I don't want the smell of grilled meat hanging in my living room. Do it at your place out on the patio," she decided for him.

"Ok. I've got the bigger place anyway," he said and tried to get back at her.

"Hodgins," Cam only sighed and made the others laugh.

"You think Paul will come if I invite him?" he asked her, ignoring her comment.

"And this is where I draw the line," Michelle protested.

"He's a nice guy. Lunch was fun last week. And you're not going to him anymore anyway." Hodgins couldn't understand what her problem was.

"Will you please explain it to him while I hide?" Michelle asked Cam embarrassed, because Perry was standing next to her and Arastoo was following the conversation as well. It wasn't a teen dream to have the first Ob gyn visit discussed with her boyfriend, her mother's boyfriend and their male colleague.

"No, I won't. We have to hurry, I don't want to be late," Cam shook her head and pushed Hodgins forward by his shoulders so they would finally start moving and not just stand around discussing.

"Now I'm really disappointed Cam. I thought I'd finally get to meet that boyfriend of yours," her friend Emilia said and changed the topic to the one thing Cam had been waiting for all evening. Cam and Emilia had chosen a restaurant by the lake and were sitting out on the terrace, overlooking the water. The restaurant was posh and most other guests were either businessmen or couples, but they didn't mind. Both women enjoyed the fact that they had worked their way up and could afford going to expensive restaurants if they wanted to for no obvious reason, other than that they were in the mood for it. The long white tablecloths with a single white candle on every table created a nice atmosphere and the dark teak furniture went well with it. It reminded Cam a bit of the furniture out on Jack's patio.

"Nah, he's celebrating a baseball victory with a friend at home. And to be honest, I just need an evening to myself every now and then," she replied and took a sip of her water.

"Uh oh, already grey clouds on the horizon?" Emilia asked and looked worried.

"Not at all. It's just, I was alone for so long and first Michelle came and then Jack. Guess it just takes a while getting used to never being alone," Cam smiled at her friend.

"So tell me about Jack. All I know so far is that you work together. And I expect details on everything," her friend stressed and made Cam laugh.

"We work together. He's an entomologist, botanist and geologist at the Jeffersonian and technically I'm his boss- however he has never really learned to respect rules and considers himself a rebel," she started.

"Three doctorates? Holy moley," Emilia muttered.

"Seeley calls my team 'squints' and considers them all to be nut jobs... which might fit mostly," she admitted and her friend started laughing again. "Jack is four years younger than me, a bit taller..." she wasn't sure how to go on.

"Attractive?"

"Absolutely," Cam grinned. "Built, blue eyes, mischievous smile, always up to no good."

"Good in bed?" Emilia asked bluntly and dug into her desert that the waiter had just brought.

"Oh yeah," Cam nodded and bit her lower lip to keep herself from smiling too brightly, but it wasn't working.

"Ok, no wonder you're moving in with him," her friend commented. "Did he drop the big question yet?"

"Which one do you mean? The one followed by a big rock or the one followed by diapers and an obligation that lasts a lifetime?" Cam wanted clarification.

"The first one. After what you told me on the phone I guess it's a bit late for the second one."

"No, he hasn't. First we move in together and see how it goes," Cam replied.

"Anything new on the diaper front? I notice you're only drinking water," Emily pointed out.

"No, nothing new. I just drink water because I still have troubles with the kidney medication. I have a headache and can barely keep anything down as it is, I don't want to add booze to the mix."

"You should really get that checked out, Cam. It's not normal and you shouldn't take pills that you can't stomach. I'm surprised I even have to tell you."

"I know. But my doctor's on vacation right now and I don't want to go somewhere else and tell my story all over again. I've already been to three doctors since that bastard poisoned me," Cam shook her head. "If Jack hadn't found out what poison he had given me and delivered the antidote to the hospital I wouldn't be sitting here today," she sighed then.

"It was Jack who saved your life back then? How romantic," Emilia laughed.

"Totally," Cam snorted and laughed as well. "Back then I didn't even think about ending up with him one day. And yet, here I am," she shrugged.

"He was an idiot back then?"

"No, he was taken," Cam laughed. "His ex-girlfriend works on my team as well," she added.

"Juicy," her friend commented. "She giving you trouble?"

"Sometimes more, sometimes less. Jack just really needs to talk to her and tell her that she needs to stop waiting for him."

"Ok, I'm done. Where to next?" Emilia said and pushed the empty plate away from her.

"There's this small Jazz club a few streets from here?" Cam suggested.

"Sounds good," her friend nodded.

"Ok, I'm just gonna go to the bathroom before we leave," Cam said and got up, then suddenly groaned and grabbed the table for support.

"Cami, you're ok?" Emilia asked worriedly and got up, walked around the table and steadied her friend. When she was closer she saw that all the color had drained from Cam's face and she still swayed slightly.

"I just got up too fast," Cam pressed out and opened her eyes. She closed them again quickly when she realized that everything was still spinning.

"You have that often?"

"The pills are messing with my blood pressure. Yesterday I nearly crashed head first into my desk at work," she replied and opened her eyes again. The world stood still again and she loosened her grip on the table.

"Josie is still working at Memorial?" Emilia asked.

"I think so, haven't heard otherwise."

"We'll substitute the Jazz club with our friend the endocrinologist," her friend decided.

"It's Saturday evening, she most likely won't be in," Cam protested.

"Then she surely has colleagues," Emilia countered.

"I don't want to tell the whole story again," Cam repeated what she had said earlier.

"Then I'll tell it. You want to call Jack before we go over?"

"No, I'll tell him if there is anything to tell. I doubt she'll be able to tell me anything other than what my doctor already has," Cam had enough energy again to roll her eyes.

"Alright. I'll pay the bill while you go to the bathroom," Emilia said and waved for the waiter while Cam walked off, grumbling to herself about her bossy friend.

At the same time Hodgins, Arastoo, Michelle, Perry and Paul were sitting out on his patio, the huge BBQ grill standing on the side. Hodgins and Paul were nursing their beers while the rest had soda or water.

"You're being quiet Dr. H.," Michelle pointed out when she noticed that Hodgins had barely said anything for at least an hour.

"Mmh?" he looked up and she realized that not only had he been quiet but he hadn't been paying attention to their guests either.

"You seem a million miles away," Arastoo put it in the right words.

"I'm just wondering because Cam hasn't called yet," he shrugged.

"Oh my God! You're worse than I thought. She's been gone for three hours, not three months," Michelle laughed.

"Cam always calls," he insisted and Arastoo and Paul had to smile as well.

"Obviously not when she's out with an old female friend. Bet they're too busy having fun."

"Not helping here, Michelle," he pouted.

"From my story you should know that Cam might attract attention, but she lets you know she's taken," Paul tried to calm Hodgins and the two clicked their bottles against each other and took another sip of their beer.

"Paul asked Cam out when he met her," Michelle told Arastoo when she saw his questioning look.

"No way," the intern started to laugh.

"That thing was doomed anyway, since he's your doctor," Perry laughed as well and teased Michelle. He thought it was hilarious that her gynecologist had asked her mother out.

"Was," Michelle told him with a stern look. "Sorry Paul, but that'd just be too skeevy," she told the doctor when he raised his eyebrows upon hearing that he had lost a patient.

"I understand Michelle," he grinned.

"Anyone up for a late round of basketball?" Hodgins asked then and seemed to be in a better mood.

"I'm the referee," Michelle decided and the men accepted her choice, making teams with Arastoo and Paul as guests and Hodgins and Perry as hosts.

When Cam wasn't back around three am, Hodgins got worried. He knew she was out with a friend, but it wasn't like her to be gone that long and not call him at least. At 4 he was worried enough to still be up and he decided to call her. At first there was no reply and he knew that it was possible that she just wasn't hearing her phone ring.

"Hello," came the sleepy reply after the tenth ring.

"Hey, where are you? Everything alright?" he asked her, confused why she sounded like she had just woken up.

"You woke me up," she told him to his big surprise. "We're at my place, sleeping… or I was sleeping until you woke me up," she mumbled.

"I was worried, I thought you'd come back to my place and sleep here," he replied and felt relieved that she was ok.

"No, we went to Nicole's and ate something, then we stopped at the hospital because we wanted to say hi to some old colleagues and then we came back to my place, talked and watched old movies," Cam let him know.

"Oh, ok, then go back to sleep baby. I'll see you tomorrow," he said and smiled, because she still sounded so drowsy.

"Mmh 'kay," she replied, like she sometimes did when she woke up while he carried her to bed when she had fallen asleep on the couch again. "Love you," she added and then he heard the click in the line and knew she had hung up.

Jack was warm and comfortable in his bed and slowly drifting into consciousness as he felt something touching his hair. He popped one eye open and came face to face with his girlfriend. A smile crept on his face while he blinked against the light when he saw her lying on her side in his bed, softly combing with her fingers through his hair.

"Good morning," she smiled back when she saw that his eyes were open.

"Morning," he mumbled sleepily and pressed his head to her palm.

"Emilia and I came bearing breakfast. We set it up on the patio," she informed him and wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body to his.

"What time is it?" he asked her and stroked a lose strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Shortly before one," she told him and kissed him softly.

"Mmmh," he moaned into the kiss. "You think your friend would mind if we show up in an hour?" he asked her and rolled them over so he was on top. Her hands were in his hair again while he teased the soft skin behind her ear with his lips and teeth.

"Keep doing that and I don't care," she sighed, brought one hand down and snuck it under his shirt, rubbing her hand over the skin of his chest.

"I have to take a shower and brush my teeth," he replied and placed another kiss on her throat. "But you smell so good," he added quietly and then sucked on her skin. "And you taste even better." Cam pulled his head back up to hers and kissed him again. They both got caught up in the kiss and she smiled into it when she felt the evidence of what she was doing to him against her.

"I want to stay here with you," she admitted when he broke the kiss, one of his hands underneath her shirt, the other on her butt, pressing her hips into his.

"What brought this on?" he asked her, wondering why she was getting them all worked up although she knew her friend was waiting for them.

"Missed you last night," she said and leaned up to kiss him again. He pulled back, then pressed a kiss against her forehead.

"Your friend, babe. We'll continue this later when she's gone," he told her and rolled off of her.

"Later," she sighed and slowly got out of bed as well and left the bedroom to return to the patio where her friend was waiting.

"Your friend is nice. I like her," Hodgins said later that day when he was lying in bed with his naked girlfriend.

"Me too. Although at the moment I'm happy we're alone," she grinned and kissed him.

"I just always pictured her differently when you talked about her," he admitted when they came up for air again.

"People always gave us strange looks. I was the skinny, dark one who was bossier than most expected and Emilia was always a bit overweight, had short blonde hair and gets sunburned just thinking about the sun," Cam replied.

"Who did you meet last night at the hospital?" he remembered that they had been seeing another friend.

"Josie. She's a few years older than we are and Emilia always got along better with her than I did." She kept playing with his fuzzy chest hair while she talked, her head tucked underneath his chin.

"I'm happy you had a nice time." He hugged her to him and buried his nose in her hair.

"Last night while we were at the hospital Josie did some tests concerning my medication," she admitted and he looked at her. "She prescribed me something else, something newer and milder. She says that I should be able to be without meds in two weeks."

"Really? That's awesome," he smiled relieved, because he had been worried about her and the side effects she had to deal with.

"I won't be healed. But until further notice I should be fine," she smiled back.

"Is that why you're in such a good mood and so enthusiastic?" his smile got sultry.

"I'm not tired anymore. You don't like it?" she raised her eyebrows and turned around so she was lying not on her side anymore but on her stomach looking down at him.

"I really like it," he stressed and kissed her passionately. When his tongue glided into her mouth and found hers Cam was surprised again how good he tasted and how much his kiss excited her. This never seemed to lose intensity and made her tingly all over. Soon enough she stopped thinking altogether though and simply enjoyed his full attention on this beautiful Sunday afternoon.

A few days later Cam walked up to the platform slightly before noon. She knew Hodgins and Angela were still gone, mainly because she had ordered them out in the field together. Now that she felt better with the new medication and wasn't tired all the time, her zest for action and taking action had come back. She was sick of walking on eggshells all day around the lab and she wanted the situation with Angela resolved as soon as possible. She was aware that Jack was a bit afraid of the talk and kept making up excuses such as that he hadn't seen Angela alone. A two hour drive should be enough however to provide an opportunity to talk.

"Who do you wanna start with? The wicked witch of the east over here... east right?" she asked Brennan when she saw the two bodies on the tables.

"Right. She wore the red shoes," Clark Edison, the intern of the week provided, knowing that his boss most likely had no idea what they were talking about and couldn't help Cam out on that one.

"We should start with the more recent remains," Brennan joined the conversation, ignoring Cam's remarks.

"Which are sealed up. What is it with this job and corpses encased in mystery wrap?" Cam said as she put on some rubber gloves.

"Dr. Hodgins says its most likely Polystyrene ceiling isolation that melted in the fire and coated the body," Clark told them what he had been told before. Neither Cam nor Brennan had spoken to Hodgins or Angela since they had started the investigation at the crime scene.

"Could he explain the sparkle?" Brennan asked and pointed to the sparkling parts of the coating.

"Some resting bulbs exploded afterwards shattering over the Polystyrene," Clark replied.

"Perhaps you and Dr. Hodgins can find a way to unseal the remains," his boss requested and the intern nodded.

"Let me see if I can get in here," Cam said and picked up an otoscope from the instrument table. Carefully she looked down the nasal cavity.

"Wire ligatures around the wrists indicate foul play," Clark said while he looked at the x-rays he had taken before. Brennan was leaning with Cam over the head, although they both knew she wouldn't see anything through the otoscope.

"No evidence of smoke inhalation. She was dead before the fire," Cam told them what she had found and then looked over to the other table, where the skeleton with the long grey hair and the dress lay. "Now that one is just... weird," she commented.

"These Bones were found in a steel wardrobe. It preserved her in the fire," her female colleague let her know, because Cam hadn't been at the crime scene this time. The information that they had found a skeleton hadn't suggested that she was needed at all in this case. Yet, here she was. Though, she had to admit that she was more involved this time as the head of forensics than as a coroner. She couldn't help much with skeletons.

"Uh, female, also Caucasian, forty to fifty years old," Clark provided the data.

"There is evidence of spinal kyphosis which would have given her a hunched posture," Brennan went on. "This stain here on the forehead is the result of contact with copper. I've seen this before in disinterred bodies, because of the copper hardware on the coffins."

"So someone robbed a grave, strung together a skeleton and stuck it in a wedding dress?" Cam summed it up, so she could be sure she got it right.

"That's a reasonable conclusion," the anthropologist said as if it was a normal case. Compared to the other crazy stuff they had had it probably was. Cam would just never get used to it.

"These are greenstick fractures, extreme force as supplied to the chest and there's a clean edged indentation of the spinous processes L2 and L3," Clark pointed to the injuries.

"Thoracic crushing combined with the puncture wound. This woman was subjected to a kind of torture that was used in the 17th century," Brennan told them with a hint of excitement in her voice.

"Torture?" Cam asked shocked. She surely hadn't seen this one coming.

"These injuries are consistent with a form of punishment used during the Salem witch trials," Brennan upped the ante.

"She was a witch?" Cam said weirded out. Wasn't one witch in the lab enough for a lifetime, even if it had turned out that the last one had been fake?

During the drive to the crime scene had mainly passed in silence beside idle chit chat, Hodgins and Angela felt more comfortable and talked more on the ride back to Washington.

"You know what I think? Cam sent us both to the crime scene because of the tension between us," Angela said while she fiddled with the camera.

"Tension? There's no tension between us," Hodgins denied. He didn't want to talk about this now in a car on the way back to work. It could go in a dangerous direction and he didn't feel up to it at that moment.

"Yeah, at first I thought it was because I'm suddenly, I don't know, available again. And then I thought maybe it was because you think that I treated Wendell badly," Angela went on and he was glad when he realized that she was just talking about the tension between him and her and not the tension between him, Cam and her.

"Hold on, Wendell said that it was totally mutual. He said that you are wonderful," he corrected her. Wendell had never complained about Angela and he needed her to know that.

"I'm not sure how I feel about you two discussing me," she replied and he could understand her in that area.

"Not discussing you. Complimenting you," he said and she gave him a look that clearly asked 'seriously'. "Ok, fine. No more compliments. You don't look good today, your smile is ordinary at best and it is not cool that we finally get to work together again in the field." he grinned at her, trying humor as a way to get out of the discussion.

"Ok, that's fine. I can live with that," she nodded and then turned her attention back to her digital camera while he kept looking at road."You know this symbol is very creepy on this chimney," she said.

"Alright, let me see," he agreed when she kept looking between him and the camera screen. She leaned over to him and held the camera up so he had to glance just to his right.

"See?" she asked him.

"Oh, yeah. Could be a lot of things," he agreed and looked at the camera a bit too long. The car suddenly started beeping and he quickly turned the wheel so he would go back into his lane. "Whoa. What is that?" he asked Angela.

"Oh the Prius helps you stay in your lane. It's kind of cool," Angela informed him. She had taken the new cars of the Jeffersonian more than once; he usually used his own car or the bigger and shinier cars of the Institute.

"It is cool. Let's do that again," he grinned and pulled over again so he went out of the line, the car beeping again. A second later they heard a siren starting up behind him. When he glanced into the rearview mirror he saw a police car following them."Oh that is not cool," he added.

"I didn't even see him there. That's pretty sneaky. Pull over. I'll pour on the charm," Angela grinned and he pulled over. When he had stopped and looked into the mirror again he saw that the guy looked familiar.

"It's Sheriff Abrahams from the crime scene," he said when he realized who it was.

"Oh," Angela just said.

"Oh perfect," he agreed relieved.

"Good afternoon sir, I observed you crossing the double yellow. How much did you have to drink today?" the sheriff asked him when he was standing in front of the driver's side.

"Sheriff Abrahams, it's us. Hodgins and Angela, we just left the crime scene, we're heading up north, dropping off our stuff at the lab," Hodgins said, thinking the sheriff didn't recognize them.

"I know Dr. Hodgins, I'm just following the law. Have you had anything to drink today?" the sheriff insisted.

"Hi Sheriff. Listen, uhm, I really do like a man in uniform who loves his job," Angela flirted and winked at him."So, uh, neither one of us has had anything to drink, no," she added when he didn't react in any way to her flirting.

"Hello Miss Montenegro, but I'm afraid I need the driver to respond," he replied and Hodgins could feel the irritation rise inside of him.

"Yeah, yeah, I've had several martinis, some absinth and a barrel of met," Hodgins said sarcastically.

"Your license and registration please," the sheriff ignored his tone and obviously believed what he had just said.

"He was kidding. He is just... being an idiot," Angela said and gave Jack a disapproving look.

"You too please," the sheriff requested calmly and now Angela looked just as disbelievingly and pissed off as Hodgins. The charm was gone.

Shortly after four in the afternoon Cam decided that she should check on Hodgins. She hadn't heard anything from him since he had left with Angela that morning and she guessed that he might be angry with her for setting him up like that. When she looked into the Ookey Room she was surprised to find Dr. Edison in there and not Hodgins.

"Oh, you're not Hodgins," she pointed out unnecessarily. In front of the intern was a construct of several plastic cups and stuff that dripped into them.

"No, he's not here and I can't wait any longer," he replied.

"Wait for what?" she wanted to know.

"Dr. Brennan wants me to identify the best solvent to remove Polystyrene from the bones. So I put myself in the mindset of Dr. Hodgins," he said and Cam wasn't sure if he had actually lost his mind or this just made it look that way. Hodgins might be nuts but he wasn't completely out of his mind- which Clark looked like at that moment. "And came up with this experiment," he said proudly and looked at his construction.

Cam opened her mouth and at first had to hold back the words that were threatening to spill. She didn't want to anger him. "I have a new appreciation for Dr. Hodgins," she said finally, because it was the mildest version of the thoughts running through her head.

"Ok. This device fills each Polystyrene cup with kerosene, propylene, turpentine, hydrochloric acid and acetone," he started to explain and Cam still had the disbelieving look on her face. He opened the taps and the liquid poured into the cups, the first one starting to melt. "Oh, acetone," he said excitedly just when the melting cup made the cone underneath fall over onto the next one and ruin the whole construction.

"It's not like Hodgins to be late. Could you come and get me as soon as he shows up?" she told him unimpressed by the mess he had made. She had a meeting in a few minutes and she was starting to worry about Hodgins. "And I think the acetone is eating through your shoes," she told Clark before she turned around and left, leaving him alone with the chaos and a melting shoe.

It was already ten at night and Hodgins and Angela were still incarcerated by the sheriff, because of the outstanding bench warrants. Hodgins couldn't believe all of this. They had called Brennan hours ago and still no one had showed up for them so far. Had Brennan not told Cam where he was? Or had something happened to Cam on the way to them? He was worried, but most of all he was pissed off.

The bench he was lying on was uncomfortable and though he tried to get some rest he just couldn't sleep. The bright light didn't help and the tension between him and Angela could be cut with a knife by now.

"That is the hardest bench that I have ever sat on in my life," Angela complained and he opened his eyes and sat up. He couldn't sleep anyway.

"Sat on? Slept on!" he pointed out.

"My shoulders are killing me," Angela said and rubbed her shoulders, trying to make the pain go away.

"Tell me about it," he said and watched her. He knew she wouldn't be in a better mood if her back was aching. Who knew how long they had to stay in this cell, because so far no one had come for them. "Come here," he said and decided that he would help her.

"Why?" she asked warily as if he would attack her.

"I'll give you a little rub, you know, work out the kinks," he shrugged. She gave him the disbelieving look again and he couldn't help but be amused by it. What was she thinking? He'd rape her in this cell? "Are you really that mad at me that you don't want a little massage?" he asked her.

"Ok .Only because I hurt," Angela granted him the honor of giving her a massage. She sat down on his bench, pulled her hair to the side and held it with one hand while he started his massage. It only took her a few seconds until she started moaning. The appreciative moans from the beginning soon turned into something that made him grin and shake his head at her. He couldn't remember her being this loud during sex, so why was she doing this now? "Oh god yes," she groaned loudly.

"God is a little formal, Hodgins is fine," he couldn't help but tease when she kept moaning. He was immensely amused by it and knew he would tease her about it for a while.

"Looks to me like you two are doing just fine in here," he suddenly heard Cam's voice and jumped back from Angela and took his hands off her. It took him a moment to understand that she was really here. At first he was shocked that she found them in this catchy situation, but then he was just glad to see her. She had that half smile on her face that could either mean that she was amused or that she wasn't amused at all and was trying to hide how pissed she was. He surely would find out soon.

"Cam!" he exclaimed and hurried to the bars in front of which she stood. "Hey! So?" he asked her and tried to reach out to her. But she kept her distance so he gripped the bars. "You spring us?" he asked her hopefully.

"These two aren't exactly Bonnie and Clyde. Can't you let them go?" Cam turned to the sheriff who was standing beside her. When she asked him Hodgins realized that she was really amused and not angry.

"Not until the judge gets here," Sheriff Abrahams replied.

"Well, I'll post bail, pay the fine, whatever," she told the sheriff and looked at Hodgins, noticing his pleading eyes. "We need them to solve this murder."

"You have the evidence and they could be reached here any time to assist," the sheriff said and Hodgins and Angela looked shocked at each other. It was when they exchanged an awkward look that Cam realized these two still hadn't talked.

"Don't you think you're being a little… rigid?" Cam asked the older man.

"You are a law enforcement professional, are you not Ma'am?" he asked her and took her aside, out of earshot of the other two, who could only watch from afar.

"Yes."

"Then you know that the law can't be twisted to our will or chaos will ensue. I mean, where does it end? Today a seemingly minor bench warrant, tomorrow we overlook another piece of paper and a murderer goes free," he said and Cam looked surprised.

"Wow. You are like the last upright man in America," she said stunned.

"Well, I wouldn't say that," he replied and picked up a box from the desk nearby."But I'm a good sheriff and I love the law."

"That's very impressive Sheriff," Cam told him. She was truly impressed by his idealistic look on things. However it was the idea forming in her head that kept her from pushing the issue further.

"Oh my God, he's getting to her!" Hodgins said shocked, able to read the look on her face even from a distance.

"I'm sure the judge will be coming soon," she told them apologetically.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no. You're kidding, right?" Angela exclaimed, while Hodgins knew that it was fruitless.

"Sorry, it was like arguing with one of the founding fathers. I've got the evidence, we'll talk, kay?" she told them and then hurried off, before the look on Hodgins face would cause her to rethink her decision.

"Oh my god!" Angela nearly yelled.

"No!" Hodgins actually yelled at her.

"Cam!"

"No!" he called again, unable to believe it.

"See you guys later!" she called when she was already out of sight and Hodgins was sure he had heard a smile in her voice.

"Hey!" he called one last time, but there was no reply, she was gone.

"I can't believe this!" Angela said stunned.

"She didn't even kiss me hello or goodbye," he said equally stunned and plopped down on the bench he had occupied before.

"Oh please," Angela groaned annoyed and sat down on the other bench. Hodgins lay back down like he had done before he had given Angela the massage.

"Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars," he sang quietly, because it suddenly popped into his head.

"You know that song? Didn't know you listened to Eminem," Angela said from the other side.

"Michelle always sings it. And it's the B.O.B. version she loves," he corrected her and then fell silent, thinking about Cam and Michelle and what they would do without him at home that night and why Cam had left him there in this cell.

"Pizza? Where's Hodgins?" Michelle asked when she came home that evening and found Cam setting the table for two.

"In jail," Cam grinned.

"Come again," Michelle replied and sat down on the edge of the table.

"In jail," Cam said again, her grin getting wider.

"What did he do? Turn other people into smurfs?" Michelle guessed.

"No, drove out of the lane and had an outstanding bench warrant when the sheriff got him," Cam replied and lightly slapped Michelle's butt so she would get off the table.

"For what?" the teen giggled.

"Running from the police after a free speech demonstration eight years ago," Cam told her.

"He sure knows how to live the wild life," Michelle laughed this time.

"Oh yeah, he sure does," Cam agreed, thinking about Angela's obscene moaning in the cell when he had given her a backrub. It had certainly been over the top and she wondered what Angela had wanted to achieve with it. Turn him on?

"When will he get out?" her daughter asked and brought her out of her thoughts.

"Tomorrow at the latest."

"You couldn't bail him out?"

"If I had really wanted, maybe. But it'll give him and Angela time to talk," she grinned at her daughter.

"Oooh, you're evil. I like it," Michelle grinned back and took a bite of her pizza.

"We'd like to get out of here if that's what you mean," Angela said the next afternoon when Cam asked them at the end of the video conference how they were doing.

"I'm sure you will. Thanks guys," Cam said, aware that Hodgins had been staring at her the whole time. And Clark ended the transmission before either of them could say another word.

"Another round?" Hodgins asked Angela and held up the penny before they each fell back into silence and depression.

"Yes, 32," Angela said when she had hit the cup with the penny again. She got off the floor and walked to the cup. Hodgins got up as well to stretch before it was his turn again. When Angela turned around with the penny in her hand she looked at him, the smile on her face getting smaller and wistful.

"What?" Hodgins asked and looked questioningly at her while she kept staring at him.

"Do you ever wonder what happened to us?" Angela asked once she had gathered her courage. The question had been haunting her for a long time. "On the day we broke up," she clarified and Hodgins' smile vanished.

"Yeah, every day I ran through that conversation word for word," he admitted, his eyes becoming sad at the memory of the pain endured in the past.

"Me too," Angela said and he knew the time had come. They would finally talk about them, about their break up and everything else. After all this time. After all the relationships they had had and the one tentative try to get back together months ago.

"You said 'All you had to do was trust me'," he repeated her words from back then, still remembering them.

"And you said ' Hey, you're the one who's leaving'," she repeated his, surprising him by knowing his exact words still.

"And then you said 'You're the one who isn't stopping me'," he went on.

"And I left," Angela recounted what had happened back then.

"Yeah," he nodded and remembered the moment, realizing once again that it didn't hurt anymore thinking about it.

"Right," Angela agreed quietly, remembering as well. "Though I wish I hadn't," she added then louder and looked at him half expectantly, half fearful.

"For a long time it was the biggest regret of my life that I didn't stop you," he told her honestly.

"Yeah, what was up with that?" she asked him and walked over to him.

"I... just... panicked, I'd lost faith that I could sustain that kind of happiness," he told her the truth of what had been wrong with him back then.

"Mmh, you talked to Sweets?" she smiled knowingly.

"The kid's got the goods," he chuckled.

"Yeah, it was like we were both playing chicken and then we ... we both swerved," Angela put it in her own words what had happened to them.

"Yeah, what we should have done is crash right into each other," he knew it better now.

"At the speed of light," she agreed, her voice slightly husky. Suddenly she leaned forward to kiss him and instinctively Jack reacted, placing his hands on her shoulders and stopping her.

"Ange, no," he shook his head.

"I... but you said... Jack, I love you. I still love you. I never stopped," she told him nearly desperately. He looked at her calmly and kept his hands on her shoulders, running his thumbs calmingly over her exposed skin there.

"We were both stupid back then and maybe we shouldn't have broken up the way we did and maybe we could have both stopped it, Ange, but I'm with Cam now," he insisted and looked her in the eyes.

"Do you really love her? The way you loved me?" she asked him, tearing up.

"I love her more than I ever loved anything or anyone," he made himself clear and it hurt him when he saw Angela flinch. "I love you like a friend or like a sister now, but that's it. I'm sorry, Angie," he told her and wiped a tear off her cheek.

"It's not your fault. I shouldn't have left back then," she sniffed. He didn't reply, instead he pulled her in his arms and held her for a moment. "I thought maybe it was just to pass time until we decided what we wanted. I always hoped that we'd get back together one day," she cried against his shoulder. "I liked Wendell and Roxy and the others... but they weren't you. I never had again what we had."

"One day you'll find someone again, I'm sure of that," he told her.

"Would it make sense if I waited for you? Like you waited for me…" she asked him and pulled back so she could look him in the eyes.

"No, it wouldn't," he said and took her hand to lead her to the bench. He pulled her down with him so they were sitting side by side. "If I have anything to say Cam and I are the real deal. And you shouldn't settle for being second best. You're too amazing for that," he said and kept her hand in his.

"Then why did you stop loving me?" He had never seen her so sad before.

"I don't think I ever stopped, it just turned from romantic love into friendship."

"Are you always happy with Cam? Is that it?" she asked, trying to understand why he didn't want her anymore.

"No, I'm not," he shook his head and her eyes got wide. "We fight sometimes and sometimes we annoy each other or Michelle does something… or something else comes our way. It's not about always being happy, Ange, maybe that was our real mistake. It's about contentment. If you're really comfortable and content with the person you're with no matter what comes your way then you've found the right person, I think," he shrugged. "And I found that with Cam. It's the feeling that will stay, even when the romance and the butterflies are gone after some years."

"I didn't realize you love her that much," Angela said quietly. "I hope she feels the same way about you."

"I'm fairly certain she does," he nodded with a small smile.

"How do you know?" she asked him. She had been certain he still loved her and it turned out she had been wrong.

"We're moving in together and we're gonna have a baby together," he let her know, her hand still in his.

"Cam's pregnant again?" Angela asked wide eyed.

"Not yet, but hopefully soon," he clarified. "At the moment she's having trouble with her kidney medication again, so it might be better that she's not pregnant yet."

"Wow," Angela said quietly and looked down to her feet.

"Yeah," he agreed and then wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him. She let her head drop to his shoulder and he placed a kiss on her forehead.

"I think I'll always love you," she admitted quietly.

"And I'll always love you. Just maybe not the way you want me to," he replied just as quiet.

"I'll learn to live with it and wait for the right guy to be content with," she told him and when he looked down at her he saw that she smiled a bit.

"The judge is here," the sheriff told them a moment later and they realized they weren't alone anymore. Slowly they got up to finally get out of that cell.

"You gonna tell Cam about what happened? Our talk, I mean," Angela asked Hodgins when they walked into the Jeffersonian. The ride back to Washington had passed in silence; both had been deep in thought about their talk and the things that had been said.

"Some of it, yeah. She needs to know," he nodded and took a deep breath when the glass doors to the lab slid open.

"Angela, Hodgins. We solved the case even without you," Brennan told them when she saw them. She was standing on the platform with Clark, packing up the two sets of remains.

"Hey, we assisted via video conference," Hodgins protested.

"I know and your help was appreciated," Brennan nodded.

"Cam still around?" he asked the two on the platform.

"She should be in her office," Brennan nodded while Clark rolled his eyes.

"Ok, then see you later," Hodgins said with a wave and walked off.

"Hey, Bren, you have time for a coffee?" he heard Angela ask as he walked away.

"Good afternoon you traitor," Jack greeted Cam when he walked into the autopsy room.

"Hey, jailbird. They let you out?" she asked with a smile, clearly amused. "Or did you bomb your way out?"

"No, not that I wasn't tempted after my girlfriend left me in there, rotting alive for God knows how long," he said and sat down on the edge of her desk.

"I would have bailed you out at some point," she laughed at his dramatic speech, then leaned up and kissed him. "Welcome back."

"Thank you," he said, then stood up and took her hand. She followed him with raised eyebrows over to the couch in her office and let him pull her down on it, so they were sitting side by side.

"Something wrong?" she asked him. "The sheriff found any more charges against you?"

"Angela and I, we talked," he came right to the point.

"Ok. Should I be scared?" she asked him nervously.

"We were both right, she's still in love with me and she wants us to get back together. She asked me if she should wait for me," he told her while looking her in the eyes.

"Ok, now you're really making me nervous," Cam said, not sure what to make of the situation. She knew that he wasn't in love with Angela anymore, but the way he talked scared her.

"I told her something that I should have told you first, and I'm sorry for that," he went on.

"What?" she asked quietly, not sure if she really wanted to hear it.

"I've never loved anyone or anything the way I love you," he said and then smiled a bit, knowing he had tortured her long enough.

"Idiot," was her instant reaction to his teasing and she swatted his shoulder. Then however she slung her arms around his neck and kissed him heatedly.

"That your way of saying 'I love you, too'?" he grinned when they broke the kiss.

"No, that was my way of saying 'Thanks for talking to Angela'. The 'I love you, too' speech will follow later, at home," she grinned and teased him by running a hand over his shirt-clad stomach.

"Can't wait," he replied huskily and kissed her again to give her a preview of what would be coming. He didn't even realize that she didn't mind when his hand snuck under her yellow shirt to touch her skin. Making out in her office wasn't professional and they could get caught any moment- but she didn't mind at all.

TBC